


Aretha

by Elenauial



Category: Glee
Genre: Character Study, Gen, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 22:19:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenauial/pseuds/Elenauial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small piece about Mercedes Jones, giving a look into her home life and how she has become the young woman that she is, with the beginning of a Mercedes and Quinn friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aretha

**Author's Note:**

  * For [persephoneflame (Adri)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adri/gifts).



> I hope this is what you were looking for and that I did it justice! Enjoy!

After a goodbye kiss on the cheek from Kurt and a promise to go shopping together on Sunday, Mercedes stepped through her front door.

"Hey Ma, I'm home," she called out, shrugging off her book bag and removing her coat to hang in the entryway closet.

"I'm a pirate!" a loud voice yelled from the living room and soon there was a five year old boy running circles around her, waving around a small plastic sword.

"Hi to you too, Jacob," Mercedes said with a slight roll of her eyes at her younger brother's antics.

"Hey, darling, I'm in here," was her mother's response from the kitchen, and Mercedes followed her voice, ignoring Jacob's demands she come back and 'walk the plank'.

Mrs. Jones was near the stove, putting a frozen lasagna in the oven. "There, that should be ready in about forty-five minutes for you two to eat for dinner," she said, setting the oven timer. She turned to face her daughter. "How was your day, sweetie?"

At her mother's smile, Mercedes couldn't help the huge sigh that escaped her lips. "Ugh, terrible, Mom."

Her mother's face was sympathetic. "Here, come upstairs with me," she offered, touching her daughter's arm lightly. "I have something for you. And we can talk about your day while I get ready." Mercedes nodded and began to follow her mother to her parent's room. They passed Jacob on the stairs perching a teddy bear on the edge of a banister "plank". As they ascended, he then joined them, bounding up the stairs a couple steps behind, eager to see what they were up to.

Inside her room, Mrs. Jones picked up a shirt draped across her bed and Mercedes squealed in delight.

"It's the sweater I wanted!" she exclaimed happily, reaching for it's beautiful glittered surface and running her fingers down the intricate design before slipping it on, over her tee-shirt.

"It finally went on sale," her mother smiled. "And after my employee discount, it was only ten dollars."

"Thank you so much!" Mercedes grinned, pulling her mother into a tight hug.

"How come I didn't get anything?" Jacob pouted in response.

Mrs. Jones rested one hand on a hip and looked down at her son. "If I brought you home a shirt, you would have said to me, 'Ew, clothes! Boring!'" she replied flatly.

Jacob looked down at the floor, knowing it was true, but not having anything clever to say in response.

"How about this," their mother offered, "I'll let you and Mercedes rent a movie off the television while your Daddy and I are out tonight."

The young boy's eyes lit up. "I'm gonna go pick one out right now!" he cried happily and ran out of the room in excitement.

Chuckling in amusement, Mrs. Jones headed into the bathroom to fix her make-up. It was a Friday night, and every Friday Mr. and Mrs. Jones went out together on a date while Mercedes watched her younger brother. Mercedes sat on the edge of the tub as her mother leaned into the mirror to line her eyes.

"So what happened today? More drama in Glee?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"How'd you guess?" Mercedes replied, glumly. "It all hit the fan today. Rachel told Finn about Quinn and Puck. I'm not sure how she knew, but if someone told her, it's all my fault."

Her mother turned to give her a disappointed look. "Mercedes, you know you should have kept that to yourself..."

"I know!" Mercedes glared. "But now Finn has quit Glee and..."

"How's Quinn doing?" her mother interrupted.

Confused, Mercedes paused. "I dunno..." she answered slowly. "She seemed like she wanted to be left alone, and I'm probably the last person she'd want to talk to right now..."

"You should call her and see how she's doing," Mrs. Jones prompted.

"Mom. Finn quit Glee because of her. This really messed up our chances of winning Sectionals. Maybe she shouldn't have slept with Puck while dating Finn," Mercedes argued.

Her mother's glare was more stern this time. "Mercedes. What she did was wrong. But you have no idea what it's like to deal with what Quinn is right now. She made a decision. Maybe it wasn't the best one, but now she's paying for it. I would bet she has learned her lesson, she doesn't need your harsh judgment."

Mercedes pouted.

"What she needs right now is a friend." Mrs. Jones turned back to her eyeliner. "Didn't you say that she was staying at Finn's since her parents kicked her out?"

"Yeah..." Mercedes answered slowly. "I'm not sure what's gonna happen now though..."

"When you talk to her, I want you to offer to let her stay here."

"Mom!" she protested. "Quinn and I weren't exactly close friends before, and she probably hates me now. This is going to be really awkward."

Her mother focused her attention on her daughter once again. "Mercedes. This girl is alone in the world right now. I know you haven't been there, but I have. We have a guest bedroom that we barely use. I want you to offer it to her. That's final." With that, she opened a tube of mascara and resumed her work.

Mercedes stared at her mother: a strong, proud, beautiful woman who had overcome adversity to get where she was today. She admired her so much. She wouldn't let her mother down.

Resigning herself, Mercedes asked with a smile, "Is that a new mascara?"

"Just came in yesterday," her mother answered proudly, "Isn't it fabulous? I liked it so much on everyone I did up today, that I couldn't resist buying some for myself."

"Daddy!" a shriek was heard from downstairs as the front door opened.

"Oh, your father's here!" her mother noted excitedly, "I better get changed!"

Mercedes left the bathroom with the smile. "I'll go check on the lasagna," she added as she headed down the stairs.

"Hey Daddy," she said, as he gave her a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

"Hey beautiful," he replied. "Is that a new sweater?"

She grinned. "Yeah, Mom bought it for me at work today."

"It looks great on you," her father smiled as she pulled back from him, Jacob poking her with his toy sword to regain his father's attention.

"Dad, Mom said I could rent a movie tonight!" Jacob shouted in delight. "I'm gonna watch 'Up'!"

"Is that right?" Mr. Jones answered with a grin as he scooped his son up in his arms. Mercedes chuckled as she made her way to the kitchen to finish up dinner.

*~*

After dinner was finished, the dishes were washed and she had set up the movie to play for Jacob, Mercedes snuck away to her room for some privacy to call Quinn.

She scrolled through her phonebook to find Quinn's cellphone number; she had it, but it was rarely dialed. She felt a bit nervous as the phone rang, unsure of what to say. Quinn picked up right before the answering machine did. Her tone was questioning. "Hello? Mercedes?"

"Hey Quinn," Mercedes responded. "Where are you?" she couldn't help but ask.

"At Brittany's," Quinn answered evenly. "I don't think I can go back to Finn's now."

There was an awkward pause. "Brittany said that you told everyone about me and Puck."  
Mercedes felt ashamed. The words came rushing out of her mouth."I did, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. But I didn't tell Rachel, I swear, I don't know who told her..."

"I think she figured it out on her own," Quinn said distantly. "The part I was more curious about was how you knew. So I asked Puck. He said that he accidentally told you."

"Yeah, that's true," Mercedes answered, still unsure of how Quinn was feeling toward her and the proper way to respond.

"He told me the most interesting thing," Quinn continued, her tone still light and ambivalent.

Now even more hesitant, Mercedes asked, "Oh, what was that?"

"He said that you told him it didn't matter that he was the real father. That I had chosen Finn and he should respect my choice and stay out of the way. Is that true?"

She remembered the conversation well. "Yeah, it's true."

"That's an insightful thing to say." Quinn's tone was still airy.

Mercedes sighed. "Yeah. Well. It comes from experience." Quinn said nothing, so she continued. "You know my dad, Mr. Jones?"

"Yeah," Quinn answered slowly. "Last time I saw him, he said I'm going to need my wisdom teeth out soon."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. Sometimes she wished her father wasn't the dentist all her peers went to.

"Well. He's my Dad. But he's not the man who got my mother pregnant."

Quinn's tone sounded compassionate, the first change in the entire conversation. "Really?"

"Yeah. My mother got pregnant when she was 17. She and Rick, that's his name, they tried to make it work for a while, but he was always comin' up with stupid-ass shit to get money. He got busted for selling drugs before I was even two."

Quinn was silent.

"She raised me for a while on her own, with some help from my Grandma. Then a few years later, she met my Dad and she chose him. They got married and she convinced Rick to sign over custody. I think he's still in and out of jail these days, but I don't know. We don't talk. Lawrence Jones may not be my biological father, but he's my dad."

Still no word from Quinn.

"You had the right to make that choice, for your baby. A girl's daddy ought to be the man who's best suited for the job."

Mercedes couldn't be sure, but she was pretty sure she could hear some faint sniffles on the other end of the line.

"Hey Quinn," she continued. "How long are you staying at Brittany's for?" This was still awkward, despite her previous confessions. "Because my Mom wanted to offer you a place to stay, if you don't have one. We have a guestroom....And she...she knows what it's like to be young and pregnant and feel alone in the world."

This time, the sniffle at the other end was definite.

"Thank you Mercedes...I'd like that...a lot..."

Maybe Mercedes Jones didn't know exactly what Quinn was going through, but she did know how to help.


End file.
